Chinagotz the movie

ChinaGotz

A documentary movie

by Gotz and Odile Dufant

Gotz, French Polynesian artist was selected and invited along with 30 other sculptors from around the world, at the 11th Symposium International of Sculptures of Changchun, in China. He has to make a sculpture in 6 weeks. With a small camera, he has filmed, alone with the help of his young translator, Wo Bin, his adventure at Changchun, from August 18 to September 29 2010.

In the gigantic haul, in the middle of other sculptors, he shows us the different steps of his work, but also his life outside the work : the sculptors, the << little hands>> who live in the work area, the parks where the Tai Chi Chuan amateurs train, the streets, the modern architecture, the city and the little jobs, today's China.

It's this sight always mysterious, often funny and sweet, who brings us in this documentary.

The idea of the movie…

Gotz Philippe Donaghy says he is a: self-educated, multi-art artist.

Born in 1964 in France, his been living in French Polynesia for the past 20 years. Painter, Sculptor, Comic Book Author, illustrator, he is mainly an open minded men. His creativity is always improving by new experiences.

Technology, informatic work tools, numeric images, photography, has always interested him and now he is mastering new experimentations: cinetografic grammar!

A creative meeting:

Our collaboration was born from meeting a new person.

Gotz has told me his experience at the Symposium of Changchun in 2009. It's a unique, fascinating experience as an artist but also as a human being! So we thought of doing a movie of this second invitation in China. I quickly taught Philippe the language of videoing: What is a sequence, the importance of the image, the movement… Philippe is sensible to the image, and knows perfectly the compositions of an image, so it was easy to show him how to use a camera.

The idea of the movie was born:

He was willing to do of his participation of the 11th International Symposium of Changchun, a documentary to show from the inside how this big artistic event goes. It was with enthusiasm that he took a little camera to film his Chinese adventure.

The geneses of the movie:

Philippe has filmed hours of movies in 2 months by his self. The hardest was to select the bits of the many movies he made! But the final piece is a short film that is fluid and transfers well to the next image. The movements of the camera are free and interesting, just like eyes who find new things, without any grammar difficulties.

The going backand forth, between different places, the hauls where the sculptors work and the streets of Changchun where Gotz likes to walk, all those moments of his life that he shares with us.

The sound has been thoroughly worked. The haul was a extremely noisy place, so I changed the original sound, at some states, with music. For example, the scenes where Gotz is in the streets, where the original noise was horrible.

The final project is alive and rhythmic, just like Gotz's life in China; with intense moments, funny times and stressful periods who eventually lead to calm, contemplation and exploring…